I’m not sure about the way he handled it – outbursts like this probably tend to turn more people off than not, and he appears to lose his cool pretty badly – but I certainly can commiserate with the sentiment. Note how most in the crowd just sort of maintain an embarrassed silence.

So the Diocese of Orange, CA hosted a climate conference on the heels of Pope Francis’ encyclical this past Saturday. Someone shot a video of some of the proceedings, which took place in the mammoth cathedral complex the Diocese purchased from a former evangelical ministry. This hideous structure, one of the most un-Catholic I’ve ever seen, boast a huge amount of office and meeting space, and it is there – not the cathedral, proper – that this conference took place.

There is much to be concerned about in the presentations. The rather broad and in many respects unprecedented aspects of Laudato Si are clearly being promoted by many Church authorities as binding on conscience and something all Catholics must correspond their faith to. I don’t know where most Church employees learn to speak, but they could sure stand a refresher course in how to engage an audience and make an impression. The church-lady sister just drones on and on. Of course, she had to greatly misrepresent St. Francis to help make her point.

Anyway, the excitement starts at ~11:30, where a man claiming to represent traditional Catholicism just unloads on the conference speakers. I guess this was in a Q&A session. He just unloads on a CRS representative for their involvement in funding abortion, contraception, and other immoral activities, then says something to the effect that the mission of the Church is the salvation of souls and not jumping on every sexular pagan bandwagon item that comes down the pike. No argument with that from me. It then descends into a bit of a fracas over whether he’ll be removed or not. I think the point rather got lost with the man’s composure, that the Church is an eternal institution founded by Jesus Christ for the salvation of souls, not just another damnable NGO sucking at the government (re: people’s) teat and advocating for the progressive consensus. Conferences like this, which seem to receive much more commitment in terms of time and resources from the institutional Church than, say, opposition to contraception, divorce, or fornication, distress many souls who see the Church slipping into the irrelevance the eternal enemy has always desired.

Anyway, let me know what you think? I give the man an 8 for intent, a 10 for passion, but a zero for execution. Overall score: 6.

Do you think this huge push has anything to do with the massive gravy train – estimated by some to exceed a trillion dollars per decade – involved in the environmental industry, and especially the global warming cult? Governments worldwide spend billions per year funding “global warming awareness”…….I’m sure the German bishops, among others, would love to get a piece of that action.

The landmark Empire State Building in New York City, routinely sends political and cultural messages through various lighting schemes on the building. Over time, those schemes have become more and more elaborate. Many will be aware that the top of the building was covered in rainbow lights to celebrate the disastrous Obergefell decision by the US Supreme Court, foisting pseudo-sodo-marriage into law in the 50 states.

New York City, the most pro-abortion city of America, just placed a giant image of Satan on the Empire State Building, in order to convince people to worship and revere “Mother Nature,” which is really just a deceptive way of getting people to worship the devil. The image is specifically that of the Hindu goddess Kali, who is no different than Satan, for “the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God” (1 Corinthians 10:20). Here is the image:

Artist Android Jones [Nice to meet you. I’m Robotech Roach] designed the fierce portrait of Kali, who is the Goddess of Time, Change, Power and Destruction, to make the point that Mother Nature now more than ever needs a fierce avatar to fight the dangers of pollution and extinction.

Kali is a demonic demon, who compels her followers to commit mass murder. Just to demonstrate this to you (especially for those who think that Hinduism is a religion of peace), in 19th century India there was a cult dedicated to the worship of Kali, called the Thugees……..

….The reality is that there was indeed a Thugee cult in India and they did commit mass human sacrifice by the millions, but not by putting people in lava, rather they would strangle their victims to death. According to the Guinness Book of Records the Thuggee cult was responsible for approximately 2,000,000 deaths. Two million people! This is a major holocaust and it was done by Hindus for the cause of Kali, the very satanic demon whose face is on the Empire State Building. America is making itself as an offering to the devil, and do not think for a second that God is not angry.

“I set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse…….Choose life, then…” (Dt xxx:15,19). This nation has for decades chosen the curse. We chose the curse with contraception, abortion, divorce on demand, fornication, mass creation and distribution of pornography, serial philandery, pseudo-sodo-marriage, greed, usury, and the overt rejection of God and His Law in just about every imaginable way. There is some question over just who decides how the Empire State Building will be lit up to mark certain events…..the link claims it is the City of New York. If true, what a lie that makes of the supposedly hallowed liberal shibboleth of “separation of Church and state,” giving open support to a false religion while openly persecuting the true one. Quite a contrast to how buildings were lit in a very different America, 60 years ago:

Good entry at One Peter Five on the disastrous approach the Synods on the Family seem to be taking towards the topic of divorce and remarriage. I very much agree with the author below that many modernist Synod fathers and their advisers seem to believe that divorce is just something that happens to people, like getting the flu, and that the Church owes it to those people to not ostracize them for such an unfortunate accident. There is almost no recognition of the evil of divorce in and of itself and the moral culpability of souls who fall into it the vast preponderance of the time. I say vast preponderance, because there are rare situations of abuse and neglect where ending the marriage (but not re-marrying) is the only option due to criminal or dangerous behavior on the part of one or both spouses. But that is not the cause of divorce in most cases – in most cases, the causes are much more prurient.

The author also makes the point that the Church, far from seeking a way to “normalize” divorce and remarriage and readmit souls in that situation to the Blessed Sacrament, should be actively discouraging divorce by pointing out the enormous damage it does to children (and the spouses themselves) and excoriating this evil to the degree it deserves. Instead, Synod fathers have taken to using children as human shields to deflect criticism, pretending their “concern” is for the good of the children, who…….guess what!……..not being divorced, are not deprived of the Sacraments in any way.

As the author notes, rare outstanding situations aside, there is nothing in divorce that is good for children, and anything that increases the prevalence of divorce – such as a total collapse of the Church in defense of 2000 years of constant belief and practice on this subject – is an abdication of the gravest moral duty and a shirking of the very role for which Christ created the Church: the salvation of souls.

Good stuff below, it’s a long article, I excerpt a bit (my emphasis and comments):

Why is it that every time some self-styled “reformer” sets out to do away with the ancient, commonsensical, and unchangeable teaching of the Church on the question of divorce and remarriage, they immediately trot out children like human shields for their agenda? [Because people even today have strong emotions about protecting children, and appealing to emotion is a great way to short-circuit logic and get people to sign onto dumb things]Divorce and remarriage, one of the most anti-child programs ever dreamt up in the pit of hell, must be allowed, celebrated, destigmatized, promoted, or excused — why? — because we must think of the children! [Right. And let’s parse this a bit. The idea that there are more than a handful of nominal Catholics in this country (and Europe, too) who don’t go to Mass because they are divorced/remarried/no annulment and accept that this situation bars them from the Blessed Sacrament is ludicrous. These are the same people who contracept and fornicate in rates at least equal to the general population. You think being divorced is going to somehow keep them from receiving if they want? You think a priest is going to stop them in 99% of the parishes in the world? You think they stay home from Mass over this? You think their kids are less involved in the Church because mom and stepdad know they shouldn’t receive? So, basically, this is virtually the only area of Doctrine (outside the German Church tax) still rigorously enforced and adhered to?!? Please.]

This is a damned lie. [Exactly. The entire false moral conundrum is a farking lie.]

It is a lie, however, that Pope Francis — based on those whom he has invited to play key roles at the Synod — appears to be entertaining. Cardinal Kasper and the Gang have embraced it. And why should they not? The Old World septuagenarians gleefully hacking away at the sacrament of Holy Matrimony haven’t experienced its horrors themselves. They were raised in largely traditional families before the culture went completely to hell. They don’t have children or grandchildren who’ve suffered through it. And they haven’t been around Catholics who were experiencing it and also had the moral vocabulary to explain to them properly just what it had done to them, most likely because those poor souls had been deprived by these same shepherds of the catechesis that would have equipped them to do so. [I think, even more, this is part of the same revolution ongoing for decades to reduce the Church to a pathetic, shrunken, humanistic husk of her former self. This is about making a church of man, not God]

I wish I could impress upon the Holy Father just how critical it is that these men not get their way. I have both the practical experience and the moral vocabulary to explain what is being proposed. My parents divorced when I was in college. I wasn’t a small child, and I wasn’t living in the home most of the time. My three younger siblings were, however, and I’ve had a front row seat to see that emotional trauma play out in their lives, and, to an extent, experienced it in my own. What happened in my own family informs my bias, but it’s one that comes directly from experiential knowledge – knowledge that is evidently lacking in the halls of Casa Santa Marta. [More on that later]

Let’s be clear about something from the start: divorce, unless one spouse is truly abusing the other, or presents a clear danger to the children, is an undeniably selfish act and a mortal sin. “Remarriage” after divorce is compounding that selfishness with even more selfishness, and that mortal sin with more mortal sin. And who suffers? The children, always. They suffer first, they suffer longest, and, I would argue, they suffer the most deeply. [Totally agree. In fact, the entire sexual revolution – from contraception to divorce on demand to abortion to pseudo-sodo-marriage has as its primary victims whole generations of children,millions upon millions of them, the vast majority of whom will turn around and victimize their own children similarly, if they can be bothered to have any. “Regularizing” divorce will only multiply the abuse while giving it a false patina of moral legitimacy from the world’s still reigning (if badly faded) moral arbiter, the Church]

In his August 5th general audience, Pope Francis expressed a concern that people not make fun of children for being illegitimate, or having divorced or remarried parents…….

……This acceptance, however, cannot heal what has been broken. It will not fool the little ones into thinking that all has been made right. To help these children, we should be doing all that we can to prevent them from experiencing the breakdown of the family in the first place. We should be decrying easy divorce and guilt-free remarriage.We should be stigmatizing it and shouting our disapproval of divorce from the rooftops until nobody — save those in real and desperate need — dared do a thing like it again……..[That’s what society, under the leadership of the Church, used to do, decades ago. There used to be such a stigma attached to divorce that very few would obtain one for less than truly grave reasons. But then the Church surrendered her moral authority more or less voluntarily and the culture spun completely out of control bare months later, so to speak.]

Let me again be clear: what the kids on the playground or the old ladies in the neighborhood say is the least of a child’s concerns when their parents split up. A child is the physical embodiment of the love of his parents. Because of this, a truly existential crisis ensues when a child realizes his parents no longer love each other.

I have seen so many lives destroyed by divorce. I grew up among the first generation of casualties of mass divorce on demand for no particular reason. Every single one of the kids I knew who were the product of divorce were affected in extremely negative ways. Let me count a few:

K, born 1961, parents divorced 1977, went from being an honor student to an addict and Playboy Playmate. She is a never-married single mother

S, born 1971, parents divorced 1991, spent a year in a drunken stupor and dropped his major from computer science to, ahem, journalism. He has been unable to have a mature relationship with a woman, ever.

D, born 1969, parents divorced 1978, is himself divorced and works blue collar type jobs, in spite the fact his father held a PhD in engineering and he has a very high IQ

B, brother of D, experienced problematic relationships with the opposite sex and poor school performance before pulling himself together in college. He resisted marriage for years, preferring concubinage, but is now married and a father of 1

R, brother of K, born 1970, had a very difficult childhood as the parent of a single alcoholic mother. However he found Jesus Christ and received badly needed discipline in the military and is a married father of 3

J, born 1970, parents divorced 1987, went from an honor student to high school drop out in less than a year. He was basically lost for 5-6 years before pulling himself together. He is presently married and step-father of one.

T, born 1971, never recovered from his parents’ divorce in 1983 and killed himself at age 19 in 1990

Note that most of these children of divorce were in their teens or twenties when it occurred, and yet it rocked them to their cores. This is also just the external impact of divorce I was privy to as friends of the above, I could not discern the terrible private moments of grief and loss.

Those are just a few. I could name a lot more. I admit to being a bit passionate about the matter. Whatever divorce did for the parents – and it rarely helped any of them to live happier, more fulfilled lives – it was devastating for the kids. That the Church would countenance giving even partial sanction to this mass atrocity is unthinkable, and reveals the utter moral derangement of the men who plot for it. Frankly, it makes me sick to even consider it.

He who does not desire the good of his neighbor, but is envious of him, does not possess the love of his neighbor.

We call a man envious who merely through ill-will is vexed at the prosperity of another, or rejoices when misfortune overtakes him.

The envious man cannot bear the good fortune of another, and consequently he seeks by word and work to do him harm……Our vexation or pleasure may arise from the love of God or of our neighbor, in which case it is not blameworthy; for example, if a man is grieved because one who is an enemy to the Church is raised to a position of influence, or because great prosperity attends to a sinner who will employ his good fortune to sin the more……..The height of envy is to grudge another the gifts of divine grace, and progress in virtue. This is one of the sins against the Holy Ghost. [Which can so corrode a soul as to make repentance all but impossible and thus, forgiveness] The high priests were jealous of Christ when they saw that He worked many miracles; they therefore determined to compass His death (Jn xi:47). The devils feel this kind of envy; they are furious when they see the elect advancing towards perfection and at once assail them with persecutions.

No sin renders man so much like the devil as envy, for envy is peculiarly the devil’s sin.

The envious man is an imitator of the devil, for by the envy of the devil death came into the world (Wis ii:24). Just as Christ says: “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples if you love one another”: (Jn xii:35), so on the other hand the devil can say: “By this shall all men know that you are my followers, if you envy one another as I have envied you” (St. Vincent Ferrer). The jealous man wishes to see nothing but misery around him. There is more malice in this sin than in any other. For all other sins and vices there is some pretext which a man may plead in his excuse; the excuse for intemperance is hunger, for revenge, the wrong he has received, for theft, extreme poverty, etc…but for envy no plea can be alleged……Moreover envy is the only evil quality which charity cannot overcome. One who is an enemy to you, or enraged against you, may be appeased by kindness, but the envious, never. Among all sins, envy is the only one that affords no gratification to those who indulge it; the intemperate, the avaricious, the choleric, seem to gain something by yielding to their passions, but envy is sterile.

Envy is most hurtful to man; it robs him of inward content and bodily health; it leads to many cruel actions and finally to eternal perdition.

Envy eats the heart to which it gains admission; it harasses the mind, destroys peace of conscience, banishes gladness from the soul and fills it with despondency and sadness. When once it is firmly rooted within the soul, its presence becomes apparent outwardly……..As rust corrodes iron, so envy eats into the soul that harbors it. It brings its own punishment, for it frets away and destroys the individual who cherishes it. Envy leads to many acts of cruelty……..The envious man hates to see the benefits God bestows on others. Envy excludes from Heaven; it is a sure pledge of eternal damnation. Through envy the angels fell from Heaven, and man was driven out of paradise. If we are bound even to love our enemies, how great will be our punishment if we pursue with our envy those who could never have wronged us! (St. John Chrysostom).

The best means of overcoming feelings of envy is to do all the good we possibly can for our fellow-men.

In order to thrust the monster of envy out of the heart………only the panoply of love is needed. Do all the good you can to the person whom you envy; at least pray for him, that his happiness may be increased. Thus you will banish the demon from your heart; you will thereby deserve a twofold crown; the one for your victory over envy, the other for the charitable deed you you have performed (St. John Chrysostom). Consider how short lived is all here below……..It will not matter after death what have been your possessions, what high offices you have filled; your future happiness will entirely depend upon your good works. If you will be great hereafter humble yourself now; love to be unknown and despised, for he that humbleth himself shall be exalted (Lk xiv:11).

JMJHF Productions joined a group that went on pilgrimage to Quito, Ecuador early this year. The video below shows the beautiful sights of the country of Garcia Moreno. Most of the sights shown are profoundly Catholic……..churches, basilicas, etc, but there is much natural beauty, besides. I have long wanted to tour South America. In fact, I’ve long had a crazy desire to take the Pan America Highway south in a suitably equipped vehicle and just drive around in Central and South America (yes, I know of the Darien Gap).

Very nice. Thanks to JMJHF Productions, a small private apostolate well worth supporting!

If you liked that one, you might also enjoy this video of the Chartres Cathedral light show. Not sure how they create those lights, but so beautiful. In fact I’d say it’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen, at times:

Just being able to see this is a minor miracle, both protestants and leftist revolutionaries in France have posed grave threats to Chartres Cathedral, one of the greatest architectural and artistic treasures of Europe. The Huguenots would have surely sacked the Cathedral and destroyed its priceless, ornate stained glass if they could have. They came pretty close.